


pick me up

by glubbyfishprincess



Category: Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, COME GET UR CRUMBS, Gen, Non-Linear Narrative, Platonic Relationships, im writing mostly ssg and montosun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-24 16:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19727401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glubbyfishprincess/pseuds/glubbyfishprincess
Summary: short stories from the graduating batch of 2019, better known as 'batch x'i. suhwan & yuvinii. mingyu & tonyiii. mingyu & dohyun & class eiv. class a & sihun & suhwan





	1. suhwan & yuvin

**Author's Note:**

> based off my highschool au where the concept groups are in seperate classes!! you can go thru the thread [here](https://twitter.com/suhwancrumbs/status/1147491004355772421?s=19). its filo-based but i write mostly in english, so im keeping this fic non-filo so its still relatable for non-filos!!

Nothing ever fazes Choi Suhwan.

When Kang Hyunseo announced to the A class groupchat that three students would be joining their class this year, Suhwan simply like-reacted the message to acknowledge it. After all, he found it inevitable after the amount of students who transferred or dropped out last year because of the school campus downsizing due to budget cuts. Class E took the biggest blow, with more than half of their section gone. The administration had decided to rearrange the sections to even the numbers out.

He missed his friends, of course, but he had no qualms in any sort of change as he could get along with anyone without much trouble. Enough to be productive in class, anyways, and usually nothing more. He always fit in easily wherever he went and adjusted as needed whenever there were any disagreements. People would joke it's because of his small size that he could somehow "squeeze" himself to be comfortable in any situation. Things, like this sudden announcement, just didn't seem to bother Suhwan as much as it did others.

Everyone else in class, on the other hand, started to flood the chat with speculation. Hyunseo, being the goody two-shoes Vice President he was, refused to leak any more information. He was the only one their adviser had entrusted the class lists to, and the admin was smart in doing so. Sunho, their class president, probably would've carelessly told someone if asked. Suhwan had already muted the chat days ago but finally gave it a glance on the first day of class, double-checking where their new classroom would be.

Room 101 was a tiny room, right across the bathrooms, squeezed at the dead end of a rundown hallway. Suhwan winced as the door creaked when he pushed it open. He had thought being in one out of the two honor sections of the graduating batch would warrant some sort of special treatment or at least a classroom building that didn't look like it fit right in a post-apocalyptic movie set, but this was senior high not some swanky reality show.

Hyeonsu was already at the whiteboard, already performing his duties and writing announcements sent to him by their adviser. Sunho sat at the teachers desk with his legs resting up on the glass-topped surface. He looked nearly old enough to be mistaken for a fresh grad teacher but his aloof and boyish nature (and his being literally in a school uniform) still made it clear he was a student.

"Morning, Suhwan!" The class president cheerfully greeted him as he stepped through the door. "Have you met our new classmates?"

He motioned to the front of the classroom, where the rows were still empty compared to the back because no one liked being too near the teacher.

Suhwan immediately noticed Sihun who was seated at the very end of the second row. He had bleached and permed his hair over the summer, which probably (definitely) wasn't allowed in the student handbook but no one really cared at this point. The light blonde curls framed his bright eyes and infectious grin perfectly. Suhwan couldn't help but give a shy smile in return as Sihun waved at him. "Hey, Chili Pepper! I'm lonely here in front, why dontcha sit here?"

Suhwan ignored the nickname he was given for his short stature compared to the rest of the dance troupe he shared with Sihun. He sat himself on the seat directly in front of his friend. "You came from Class B, right?"

"Yeah, I don't really mind the change. Everyone here seems pretty cool so far for a bunch of nerds." He teased, flashing another one of his signature smiles.

Suhwan laughed at his jab. Sihun came from Class B. While known for being noisy, it was still the only other honors class in the batch. He was probably one of the biggest nerds he knew. Sihun is the CEO's son after all and maintained high grades to make his father proud, it wasn't any surprise to find him in another honors class again this year.

"Donghyun's here too. He was Class D, though." Sihun pointed to the back where he could recognize Keum Donghyun sleeping facedown on one of the back row seats. Suhwan wasn't surprised at that either, Donghyun was known for sleeping through his classes but still acing exams. "I wonder who else is coming, heard anything?"

"Dunno, haven't backread the GC yet." Suhwan unlocked his phone and skimmed through the chat for names. "Eunsang, maybe?"

"Nah, bumped into him on the way here. He's definitely still in C." The blonde leaned over to read names off the phone for himself. He laughed incredulously. "Kim Minseo? Didn't he move away months ago?"

"Yeah, this is exactly why I muted it." Suhwan rolled his eyes. "Hyunseo really won't spill so everyone's flooding the chat with wild guesses."

"Well, whoever they are they're about to be late." Suhwan saw his friend's eyes suddenly shift focus to the front of the room. He turned in his seat to see their adviser enter as a few more students took their seats in the front row. Sunho scrambled out of the teacher's seat and took the last seat in front to Suhwan's right. "Yikes, I forgot Lee Seokhoon was your adviser."

"He's ok." Suhwan remarked. He never had trouble with their adviser, mostly because he was the conductor to their school choir as well. He was used to the teacher's little quirks. "I think your class was just noisy, he really hates that."

"Is everyone here?" Seokhoon strode to the front as everyone stood up to bow and greet him. He quickly motioned for them to sit back down and took the class list from Hyeonsu. "As you all already know, we have three new classmates joining your class today from other sections. Kim Sihun?"

"Here!"

"Keum Donghyun?" Seokhoon raised a brow as the boy sleepily raised his hand with a large yawn but didn't give anymore remarks. He gave a puzzled look as he scanned the classroom for someone who didn't seem to be there. "Huh, looks like our last new student isn't here right now."

"Who is it, teacher?" Sihun leaned forward with his hand raised.

"Hasn't Hyunseo already informed you? It's-"

"I'm here!" The door swung open with incredible force as the owner of the loud booming voice stumbled into the room.

Nothing ever fazes Choi Suhwan. Correction, nothing _usually_ ever fazes Choi Suhwan. A stampede of giraffes could've gone crashing through that same door and the only reaction you would've gotten out of him was a slightly confused blink.

But at that very moment, you could see every single muscle in Suhwan's body tense up as he took one look at the boy catching his breath in the doorway. The world around him seemed to slow down as his brain processed what had just happened and who exactly burst through that door.

"Song Yuvin, glad you could join us."

It was like an ill-fated relationship.

Suhwan has had to live with Yuvin's existence ever since he joined the same chorale midway through gradeschool. He didn't even want to be there; Yuvin had only joined after his teacher insisted he did so. It didn't stop their conductor from giving him all the solos after a few rehearsals with him though — solos that Suhwan was used to getting. As if having to see him during rehearsals wasn't bad enough, he ended up in the same class for all four years in junior high.

Suhwan just did what he did best in any situation, he simply adjusted to the imposing presence of Yuvin. He comfortably fit himself into the tiny corner left for him because Yuvin seemed to figuratively, and literally, take up most of the space in the room with his booming voice and loud personality. While he accepted it with gracious defeat, Suhwan couldn't help but feel a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders when he moved up to the honors section in his first year of Grade 11 giving him some respite from being in his taller friend's shadow.

Now here he was, literally bursting through the door into Suhwan's life once again and commanding everyone's attention without even trying.

"Take the last seat at the back, then we can get started on your curriculum this year."

"Actually, uh," Yuvin avoided the glare of his teacher and looked to the rest of the class with a sheepish smile. His eyes locked with Suhwan's for a second before the shorter boy immediately averted his gaze. "I've got pretty bad eyesight. Could I get a seat up front?"

"I can switch out."

Suhwan let out a groan as Sunho — wonderful all-too-kind Sunho — raised his hand and offered his seat immediately. It was all too coincidential. He could practically _see_ Yuvin's wide shit-eating grin as he took his seat to Suhwan's immediate right.

"Hey." Yuvin turned to face his new seatmate, his brown eyes wide with excitement. He had always resembled a German Shepherd with his big brown eyes and messy brown hair; basically an oversized puppy.

Nothing usually ever fazes Choi Suhwan. On the rare occurrence that something does, he gives himself a few seconds to breath and no more than that.

_Breathe in, one, two, three, four, breathe out._

Then he adjusts.

"Hey." He answers, swallowing down his insecurities and facing Yuvin with his usual angelic smile. "It's like fate, huh?"


	2. mingyu & tony

Mingyu felt like a frog had caught in his throat. He wanted to cry for help or at least _answer his teacher's goddamn question_ but his throat seemed to run dry.

"Kim Mingyu, I'll ask you again." The man in front said in a dangerously low voice. "Why can't you answer my question? Have you not done your readings?"

He _had_. He spent all night going through the text over and over again. The three cups of coffee he'd had that night practically coursed through his veins in place of blood; his fingers trembling with anxiety. Yet he still couldn't understand a word. He licked his drying lips nervously, wracking his brain for any text he could've possibly retained but it ran blank. He gave the teacher another hopeless glance that begged him to leave him alone, only being met with a stern glare.

"Kim Mingyu-"

He shut his eyes tight, bracing himself for a scolding from... whoever that was. He didn't even remember his Art History teacher's name. His entire first week was a haze of introductions and a blur of faces. It was hard to navigate the rocky waters of senior high when you didn't have an emotional anchor to help ground you. He didn't have anyone to help him make sense of everything foreign around him. His breaths grew quicker and shallower as his thoughts swirled in his mind; he was dangerously spiralling into a panic attack.

"If you'd please, sir."

A thickly-accented voice interrupted his thoughts and cut through the tension of the room. Minkyu looked to the source with wide eyes. A boy with features Mingyu couldn't quite place as solely Korean stood up from his seat with a clatter.

He glanced at the nervous boy with a concerned look before turning back to their teacher to continue. "It's his first week here, I'm sure he's having a hard time adjusting. Cut him some slack."

"Slack?" The boy's words seemed to irritate their teacher even more and his low growl grew into a shout. "I don't care if you're new, if you don't do your work then get out of my class!"

"Sir!" He protested once more.

"Sit down!"

Mingyu winced as the man slammed down his notes on the teacher's desk, silencing the boy who slowly sank down into his chair. It was his fault that that boy who spoken for him had gotten into trouble.

"You, sit down as well." The teacher continued, pointing at the remaining boy standing. Mingyu quickly sat down. "I'll let this go, but I expect better from you next time."

Mingyu looked directly down at his desk for the rest of the period. He could feel the stares of his classmates drilling into his head. He hated being anxious but the biggest blow for him was being pitied for it.

The rest of the period continued in silence. It felt like forever even though it was only 10 more minutes until lunchbreak. Then their teacher got up from his desk and left without a word, possibly the most passive-aggressive thing a teacher could do to a class.

And everyone had Mingyu to thank for their teacher's cold disposition.

 _Great_. He slumped over in his seat and mumbled to himself. Tears started to form at the corner of his eyes. It was only halfway through the day and he just wanted to go home.

A tap on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts. He wiped his eyes quickly with his sleeve before slowly looking up. The boy who had spoken up earlier now stood beside his desk, with a kind but worried smile on his face.

"You alright?" He gave Mingyu's shoulder an awkward pat, clearly unsure what the seated boy's boundaries were but trying his best to comfort him. "I mean, obviously not but I'd figured I'd ask anyways to be polite. Sorry."

"It's ok." Mingyu placed a hand on the boy's hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze as if to tell him he was ok with it. "I'm ok. Thanks for asking, uh...."

He looked back up at the boy, searching for a name to match his face.

"Ouch, you don't remember huh?" The boy dramatically placed his hands over his chest, stumbling back a little and feigning a look of hurt. "We had a moment last Tuesday? Lunchtime?"

Had they? It was weird that Mingyu wouldn't remember such a distinct face like his but everything had been a blur. He started to panic a bit about not remembering a simple thing like his name or face, and it showed in his wide eyes flicking left and right looking for something to say.

"It was a joke, sorry." The other boy quickly reached out to give his shoulder another reassuring squeeze. "The name's Tony."

Just Tony. Now that's a name that was definitely hard to forget.

"Mingyu." He mumbled in reply.

"I know." Tony gave out a small laugh and sat at the table of the chair beside him, ignoring the pointed glare of its owner. "There's a lot of new students in this class, but it's pretty hard to forget a face like yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mingyu grew conscious again and felt the stares of his classmates from all over the room. He looked away from Tony and pulled at the hood of his jacket, trying to hide as much of his face as possible without being too obvious.

"Ah, I meant—" The other panicked, seeing how he had clearly made the other uncomfortable with his words. "I didn't mean anything bad. Gosh, you're like—"

Mingyu glanced back to see the boy wildly gesturing in place of words. He raised a brow.

"You're like..." Tony trailed off and motioned his hands towards the confused boy's face, clearly holding back.

"Like?"

Tony felt his face heat up from the intensity of Mingyu's curious stare. Mingyu's features were round and soft, his worried look only intensified his natural pleading puppy-dog look.

"You're really pretty." He finally blurted out following it up with an awkward laugh.

"Ah." Mingyu slowly nodded as his mind buffered, rubbing at his cheeks to hide his embarrassment. "I see."

"It's all everyone's talking about. You're kinda upstaging us all here, bud." Tony quipped, cutting through the awkwardness hanging between them. "Well, uh, that's besides the point. I just came here to ask if you wanted to have lunch with me?"

Lunch? With him? Mingyu had spent the first week eating lunch alone. He had found a bench at the back of the school where only a few people hung around during lunchtime. Someone actually approaching him first felt too good to be true.

"Don't you have any other friends? I don't want to make it awkward."

"Not really. Not yet." Tony glanced away, with an unreadable expression casting over his face far from the sunny smile that seemed to suit him much bdtfer. "Most of this class is pretty new, you know. My close friends transferred out last year."

"Sorry..." Mingyu quickly apologized. He had clearly unearthed some painful memories in Tony. "Sure, I'll eat lunch with you."

"Really!?" The boy leaned forward in surprise, shifting the weight on the flimsy desk and tipping it over. He fell to the floor ass-first with a large thud. "Shit."

Tony heard giggles pouring out from the boy above him. He looked up, about to reprimand the other for laughing at his misfortune but stopped when he saw the look on his face.

Tony had always been concerned about the new kid from homeschool since he had found out about him from Sejin. While he thought his worried look actually accentuated Mingyu's big sparkling eyes and full lips and gave him an innocent beauty, it was clear that the new kid was nervous. It was a strange but welcome sight to see a smile on his face instead of a quivering pout. The light on the ceiling seemed to shine around the crown of Mingyu's head like a halo as he leaned over to check if he was ok. He was an angel as far as Tony was concerned.

"You alright?" Mingyu managed to ask between giggles, extending a hand to help the fallen boy.

Tony gave him a thumbs-up before taking his new friend's extended hand and hoisting himself up.

"Yeahp! Let's go, I know a place near here with the most amazing ramyun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stream choi suhwan's ssg fancam for clear skin and good grades


	3. mingyu & dohyun & class e

It was teacher's day.

Mingyu had never celebrated it before, but it apparently was a really big thing in this school. His class had prepared a week in advance for their teacher's day gift, they decided to film a short video with messages of thanks to all their instructors that year.

He frankly thought it was bullshit, considering how awful most of the teachers treated them. Some would even go so far as to call them the worst class in this batch. While angry sermons from their teachers was pretty much a daily occurence at this stressful point of the year, it didn't mean their words didn't affect Mingyu any less. He had grown thicker skin, of course, but sometimes they'd wedge in right through the cracks and pierce him where it matter most.

But their class president Sejin had insisted they still decorate the classroom anyways since it was a yearly tradition. He apparently had spent weeks preparing for this day, and finally stumbled in with a large box threatening to burst open with the amount of stuff inside. He placed it in front as the class started to crowd around him in excitement and proudly opened it.

Mingyu had never seen that many Marimongs in his entire life. They spilled out in a wave of rainbow colors and fell all over the floor of the classroom. He squatted down to pick a few up, they seemed to be smaller versions than what their class president usually made.

"Woah, maybe this year we'll actually beat Class D." Dongyun remarked, leaning over and placing his chin on Mingyu's head to take a better look at the contents of the box.

Last year, Class D had covered every inch of wall, ceiling, and table surface of their classroom with post-it notes full of messages and doodles for their teachers. Mingyu wasn't there to experience it firsthand but Tony had described the entire thing in vivid detail. It was quite impressive, especially considering their ulterior motive was to make sure no teacher could give a lesson that day with every writeable and projectable surface buried underneath a mountain of sticky notes. But no teacher seemed to catch on and cooed the entire class for their thoughtfulness. Not a single lesson was taught in Class D that day; it was a complete success.

"Alright, let's get working!" Sejin clapped his hands together to get everyone out of the trance the mountain of Marimongs had them under and into a more productive mode. He gave each student a task to finish before the start of their first period, and left the room to distract their teacher from entering the classroom too early.

Mingyu, along with Changuk and a few other students, was delegated to the task of stringing Marimongs together and hanging them over the walls. He had developed an efficient system over a few tries at it, being able to string several together in a matter of a few seconds. He hummed quietly as he worked, slowly getting into the rhythm of his task and falling into a deep focus.

"Hey, Mingyu."

A familiar, very annoying voice broke his concentration. He sighed and slowly looked up to face the source. "What is it, Dohyun—"

He barely finished his sentence when a ridiculous amount of shiny gold confetti flew into his face, some even getting into his gaping mouth. The offending party fell over with laughter from the expression in Mingyu's face. "I should've video'd this, your face was priceless!"

"D-dohyun!" Mingyu sputtered and shook his head, causing a few pieces of confetti falling from his mouth and hair. "What the hell!"

"It's just a prank!" Dohyun gave out a few more hearty laughs on the floor before he finally sat up to face the other. "Wait, Mingyu, no!"

Mingyu had gathered all the confetti he could, along with a few mini marimongs, into his fists and launched them back at Dohyun's face. Dohyun took a few seconds to recover from the surprise attack before shaking it off.

"Are you trying to start something with me?" Dohyun smirked, as he slowly backed away and picked up a few stray marimongs littered on the floor.

"You started it!" Mingyu shouted back, ducking immediately as Dohyun threw a Marimong straight at his face. It flew over his head and hit Hyeop on the head, interrupting him from the crown he was making out of marimong.

"Watch it!" Hyeop scratched his head and glared at the youngest boy.

"Make me." Dohyun challenged, throwing another one at Hyeop's face. And then another. And then another.

Hyeop wasn't usually lead easily into these things but at the fifth marimong, he lost it. He grabbed the small box of marimongs he had to his right and chucked all of its contents at Dohyun. He hadn't put enough force to directly hit his target, and most of the tiny pom-pom creatures showered over the people seated in front.

Tony, watching the whole thing from the sides, wore a wicked smile before cupping his hands around his mouth and screaming: "MARIMONG FIGHT!"

The entire class fell into chaos. Marimong, along with bits of confetti and whatever else they could find, flew all across the room in a flurry. It was impossible not to get caught in the crossfire. Mingyu was nervous at first, avoiding the rest of the students and ducking under anything thrown in his direction. He had made his way to the back of the room where it was mostly safe when he felt a hand grab his. He jumped at the sudden contact but was relieved to see a familiar face.

"Cmon, let's team up and take Dohyun out." Tony's mischievous grin practically went from ear to ear as he explained the rest of his plan. Mingyu couldn't resist his enthusiasm and tightened his grip on his hand, letting himself get dragged into Tony's crazy plan.

Mingyu made his way to the front of the room, took the empty wastebasket from the corner and filled it with marimongs from the large box. He raised a thumb up, signalling to Tony that his part of the plan was done.

"Hey, Dohyun!" Tony shouted from the back of the room. Dohyun was crouched in front of the teacher's table busy with a one-on-one with Hyeop but he turned his attention to the back of the classroom. "Betcha can't hit me!"

Mingyu nimbly crept forward and stood on top of the table while Dohyun's back was turned.

_1... 2... 3... RING!!!_

The bell rung for first period.

The door slammed open and their teacher, Lee Dongwook, walked in with Sejin following right behind. Dohyun noticed the new presence immediately and ran behind the teacher's desk to hide. The teacher gasped as he took one look at the chaos that was happening inside the classroom. Sejin simply furrowed his brow and put his head in his hands in defeat, as if he somehow knew this outcome was inevitable.

"Stop!" Dongwook commanded, and everyone in the room immediately halted. He slowly walked to the front of the teacher's table, looked at Sejin for some sort of explanation then looked back the rest of the class in bewilderment, completely speechless. There were absolutely no words to describe the mess that was laid out before him. None of the faculty orientations had prepared him for this.

Mingyu gulped. Dongwook didn't seem to notice he was still standing on the teacher's table, his arms positioning the wastebasket directly over his teacher's head where Dohyun once stood. He didn't dare move.

"Boo!" Dohyun popped up from behind the teachers table and attacked Mingyu's sides. He gasped as his grip on the wastebasket weakened and it tipped forward. Several marimongs came pouring down all over the teacher's head and onto the floor.

"Whoops." Mingyu felt his face burn with embarrassment as he saw everyone's eyes trained on him. Tony burst out laughing at the look of pure shock on their teacher's face. "Happy teacher's day?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> stream hyunbins move fancam on naver for faster wifi speeds.
> 
> i shouldnt have done two class e stories in a row but im love them. this is set much later in the year btw, mingyus changed a lot since last chapter. also class d is ippeo ippeo and they are absolutely evil. the post-its incident was based off an actual thing my class did for teachers day back in highschool. it was glorious. 
> 
> follow my twitter @suhwancrumbs uwu


	4. class a & sihun & suhwan

"Yeah, absolutely not. If I have to share the stage with _freakin' Nemo_ , I'm walking the hell out."

Seokhoon sighed as Yuvin interrupted his announcements with that remark without raising his hand. Ignoring his teacher's warning glare, Yuvin leaned back with a smug smile as it elicited a few giggles from the classmates around him.

"Really?" Suhwan rolled his eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought it'd complement you pretty well— you being the clown that you are."

Their adviser grew nervous for a second, his eyes flitting from Suhwan's serious face to Yuvin's slightly agape mouth to gauge their reactions. He wasn't exactly sure how to intervene in case tensions ran high in the class; he was never good at that.

Then the class erupted with laughter. Even Yuvin smirked and leaned over to trap his sassy seatmate into a crushing hug. Suhwan pretended to be disgusted at the physical contact and rolled his eyes once more, but a smile slowly crept up the corners of his lips and betrayed his front.

Seokhoon couldn't help but smile too even though he had been interrupted in the first place. It was silly he had ever worried, when banter between these two was common even in choir practice. He was proud to have seen their friendship grow ever since he had gotten Yuvin to join the school chorale. The two seemed to naturally gravitate towards each other ever since, overcoming any conflict that would've ruined a normal dynamic.

"It's a brainstorming session, Yuvin. We're opening our minds to different ideas so we can rule them out and pick one." Seokhoon continued after the laughter died down. He paused, thinking for a moment, before writing 'underwater' and 'nemo' under the other suggestions on the whiteboard. "We have to pass in our presentation outline to the administration next week, so let's choose a concept so we can get to writing the script. You've all decided on an original musical, right?"

"Yes, sir." Hyeonsu, who always seemed to be perpetually at their teacher's right side, piped up. "We'll all be collaborating on the lyrics and score but Sihun will be in charge of writing the script."

Sihun shot fingerguns at the mention of his name. Suhwan, who sat directly in front of him, dramatically bent forward and gasped.

"Watch where you're pointing those things!" He looked back, his face showing a look of pure shock. "You nearly took my head out!"

The class fell into another lapse of laughter. Seokhoon was completely defeated. The class was normally polite and cooperative but when when they got playful, the jokes seemed to never end. He sighed in relief when he saw Donghyun politely raise his hand.

"Yes, Donghyun, thank you for _actually_ raising your hand before speaking." He spoke above everyone's laughter, motioning for them to turn their attention to the boy seated the back.

The noise died down immediately. Class A may be playful but they were never rude. Donghyun stood up from his chair when his teacher asked for him to continue.

"I was thinking about 'galaxy' as a concept, I wanted to expound on it." Donghyun pointed to the board. Someone had suggested going with a galaxy aesthetic earlier, but with no other input other than 'it'll be pretty'. "Humans always have been fascinated by the unknown. One day billions of years ago, someone looked up into the night sky and wondered what else could be up there. Now here we are years later; we've exerted billions of money and effort into exploring it and what we know is still just a fraction of the vast expanse of the universe. It's nearly impossible to really understand all of this weird spacey phenomena and yet we still continue to seek explanations just because."

Donghyun stopped himself midspiel and mentally and physically took a step back, realizing he was already rambling. Most of the class stared at him in a mix of pure confusion and absolute boredom. He cleared his throat for a second and quickly got to the point.

"Uh, what I meant to say is... I think that kind of feeling of being drawn to things we don't understand yet can be said for a lot of things, like how we're attracted to certain people even if we know nothing about them."

Nothing. Crickets.

"You mean, like a metaphor?" Sihun finally cut through the silence. "It would make an otherwise ordinary story more interesting."

"As a wise man once said, ' _What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?'_ " Suhwan slipped into a perfect Kermit impression, nodding thoughtfully. "I think it'd be easy to write lyrics for too. It's literally an infinite source of symbolism."

"Ariana Grande's NASA is quaking." Sunho joked, accepting an enthusiastic high-five from Yuvin for his comedic effort.

Soon, the class was abuzz with excitement for Donghyun's idea. It was hard to contain the noise that ensued from the excitement but Hyeonsu did his best to keep everyone in line as Seokhoon lead the brainstorming session. More people pitched in their ideas and by the end of the period, the whole whiteboard was full of space-related terms and concepts.

It was a unanimous decision at the end, they were going for a modern high school setting but with a galaxy aesthetic with future funk as the main genre for the score. Nemo had been completely forgotten.

"Aren't you excited?" Sihun tapped the back of Suhwan's chair, which jolted the other boy out of their trance. "You seem... spaced out."

Suhwan chuckled at his friend's weak joke that grounded him immediately. He had indeed tuned out of the discussion halfway through. The last thing he had heard was a crude joke about Uranus before the excitement of the class subsided into a buzz at the back of his head as his thoughts took over.

"I am excited! I was just..." He furrowed his brow, unable to hide his frustration. "Thinking."

"About?"

"It's selfish, it's nothing." Suhwan muttered quickly, trying to dismiss his problem.

"C'mon, Suhwan," Sihun poked at the back of his friend's head. "You better speak up now if you've got a problem or you're gonna suffer for the rest of the prod."

"It's just..." Suhwan leaned in closer, his voice falling into an embarrassed whisper. "I kinda wanna be the main character. The one with the grand solo — an 'Out There' from Hunchback of the Notre Dame moment. I'm not exactly leading man material though."

"I literally hold the power over the script. I can write you as the main character if you want."

"No, I don't want to cheat!" Suhwan pushed at his friend's hands when he saw Sihun had already began writing on his notebook: 'protagonist -short baby'. "Oh my god, stop that or I'll kill you."

"Adding that to the list." Sihun teased while writing 'homicidal' as another bullet. "Wow, what a coincidence. Our protagonist is your splitting image."

"You're ridiculous." Suhwan groaned out, but his wide smile betrayed him yet again. He was enjoying the banter he shared with Sihun because it helped take his mind off things. Like the thought of Yuvin taking the main role again. Because he was the only other trained singer in class other than Suhwan. Because he was clearly better suited for the role of a hero. Because Yuvin was taller, and friendlier, and more talented, and better, and— _Ah, shit, he was thinking about it again._

The fact that Suhwan nervously flicked his eyes every once in a while towards his tall seatmate, who was talking to Sunho about the musical and completely oblivious to the discussion taking place to his left, helped Sihun find out what exactly was on his friend's mind.

"Listen." He cupped the sides of Suhwan's face with both his hands, forcing him to face him. He gave his round cheeks a quick squeeze when the other resisted. "It's too early to give up, and I know you're gonna do your best regardless of what role you get."

Suhwan finally stopped resisting. "You're right. There's no telling what will happen and the best I can do is... my best."

"There's the adorable and hardworking Suhwannie we all fell in love with." Sihun leaned forward and gave him a small peck on the forehead. The other boy had completely dropped his 'reluctant' act at this point and just smiled at the gesture, leaning into the hand his friend had cupped around the right side of the face with a sigh.

While he had managed to settle his friend's anxieties, Sihun could tell he was still thinking about it from the furrow of his friend's brow. He felt his own worries swelling in the back of his throat.

A lot was resting on Sihun's shoulders. He had the responsibility of writing a musical with a message to deliver onstage to an audience. It wasn't something he could take lightly. And knowing that his classmates, like Suhwan, would pour their hearts into the characters they'd portray left an extra burden on him to give their effort justice.

He decided then and there he wanted everyone to have their chance to shine. It was often the downfall of musicals or any story that there'd be so many interesting characters but no time to flesh them all out. Sihun didn't blame them, it was hard to do that without making it too dragging or convoluted. But he believed his classmates deserved this for everything they've gone through together. It was the least he could do.

But for now, he relaxed into the moment. Sihun stroked Suhwan's raven hair gently with his right hand while he continued to hold his face with his left. The classroom noise didn't bother them, it was almost comforting hearing the voices of the class they had grown attached to melt into a gentle buzz. He smiled as Suhwan finally closed his eyes, making all traces of anxiety from his face disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im dedicating this chapter to my favorite flops, super special girl. its a day before the third round of eliminations and im not so hopeful about majority of them making the cut considering how unpopular they are. its heartbreaking that i can't do much about it other than stream their performances and fancams. i just want them to know how much i love all of them and theyre all amazing and oh god i actually cried at their m countdown performance. i hope these feelings reach you too, and that you continue to support our super special boys wherever they might end up.
> 
> on that note, this chapters a bit rushed because i wanted to finish it before tomorrows episode. ill proofread it some other time lmao.


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